RomanPunks is a retrofuturistic, cyberpunk derivative world-building project inspired by fine art, history and the cryptopunk movement.
A total of 1,000 RomanPunk characters have been frozen in time and minted as Non Fungible Tokens (NFTs) on the Ethereum, WAX, Polygon and Algorand blockchains.
RomanPunk characters are comprised of commoners and famous individuals based on Roman history, art history and pop culture.
The basis for RomanPunk lore and backstories is exhaustively researched by history/sci-fi buff and co-founder, Punktavian.
All images are drawn by hand by woman artist and co-founder, Cleopunktra, without the aid of AI or generative tools.
RomanPunks came into existence through early minting on OpenSea, promoting on Twitter and building a Discord community through giveaways and engagement. The idea of a cyberpunk-derivative ‘RomanPunk’ theme was in our heads for years, but it was the success of the Cryptopunks that became the catalyst for project conception and launch.
After a hard working first 60 days spent networking and attracting new collectors to RomanPunks, our community had begun to flourish and sales increased. We began to offer our collectors an opportunity to battle their NFTs in a tournament bracket powered by dice rolls.
Encouraged by the tight knit community and the carbon-neutral blockchain with lightning fast and low cost transactions, we launched 'romanpunksio' collection on WAX Blockchain as the first step to expand the backstories of our RomanPunk characters and the baseline for future development of a card game.
RomanPunks integrated with Chainlink Labs to utilize VRF (Verified Randomness Function) to host a giveaway raffle for our holders. We developed a smart contract on Ethereum which guarantees true random number selection on chain and can be used for a wide range of functions that require random selection.
After much anticipation in the community, we released our first WAX NFT card 'pack' through the Neftyblocks platform, which sold out in less than a week.
We launched our Twitch channel and begun building an audience by offering numerous giveaways of WAX NFTs from our collection, as well as giving participants a chance to win RomanPunk ETH NFT airdrops for taking top spot at the end of the 'season'.
As firm believers in a metaverse future and land owners in The Sandbox, we undertook to build the RomanPunk Colosseum on 1x1 land and entered our experience "Gladiator Bloodsport" into a GameJam contest. We will continue to build the Colosseum into a PVP arena and social hub once The Sandbox offers creators the ability to do so.
Thanks to the user friendly tools offered by NeftyBlocks, we launched a comprehensive blending system on WAX, allowing our collectors to blend the common NFTs they earn in our Discord RPG up into Legendary famous NFTs through the use of blending 'coins' that can also be earned on the Discord as reward for helping to promote the RomanPunks project.
We launched the VX collection on Polygon. Each owner of an ETH NFT gets their voxel equivalent airdropped to them, and these NFTs can be redeemed for official NFTs on The Sandbox Marketplace once available.
All 1,000 original, unique 1:1 RomanPunk characters hand drawn by Cleopunktra and minted on OpenSea.
The RomanPunk WAX NFT Trading Card Fighter Pack Series II consists of 3 NFTs randomly selected from over 236 characters.
Upcoming plans for RomanPunks include:
Below is a comprehensive and searchable directory of all 1,000 RomanPunk Characters.
Born 125 AD in Emerita Augusta, Mads is an ancestor of Ferdinand Magellan and a former slave who, after being released from servitude on a Roman quinquereme, became an interdimensional explorer and the first ancient citizen to visit hedonistic late 20th century AD.
Born 345 AD in Nemausus, Equus was originally the stablemaster on a grand estate, enslaved from a young age. His life changed when Erana Veranix, the estate’s mistress, freed him after a Vandal invasion that cost them both their sight. Together in holy matrimony, they established the Institute for the Blind and Animal Rehabilitation, where Equus’s deep bond with animals and enduring spirit play a pivotal role in the sanctuary’s mission.
Born in 131 BC in Jutland, Storm was a blacksmith in the disastrous war against the Roman forces of Gaius Marius. After their defeat, his wife, Oda, was enslaved as Marius’ concubine and he was cast into a dimensional portal to serve as a gladiator in a parallel universe of a Roman atomic age.
Born in 158 AD in Lugdunum, Liv lived as a dancer assassin during the times of Marcus Aurelius, but was cast into an interdimensional speculum by a jealous Commodus. Transported to the 26th century, she flourished as a singer soldier who spearheaded a major troop recruitment campaign.
Born in 266 BC on the coast of the Black Sea, Belinda is an Amazonian warrior who portaled to the women-dominated 28th century AD to battle aliens and cyborgs in a futuristic cybercolosseum.
Born in 109 BC in Coracesium, Calypso was an infamous pirate queen who wreaked havoc on Roman shipping until she was captured by Pompey and sentenced to fight in the gladiator pits of Rome.
Born 199 AD in Cirta, Bagduda came from a tribe of futuristic warrior women who traveled through an interdimensional portal in Egypt to change the course of history by preventing the assassination of Emperor Severus Alexander.
Born 333 AD in Nemausus, Erana transformed her estate into a beacon of hope following a devastating Vandal invasion that claimed her sight and her first husband. Alongside her second husband, former stablemaster and freed slave, she founded the Institute for the Blind and Animal Rehabilitation where those robbed of their vision walk the road to recovery by tending to orphaned and wounded animals.
Born in 404 AD in a herd of nomads, Takuka was forced to marry at 11, murdered her husband at 13 and became a gladiator champion at 16. Now she travels across dimensions thirsting for blood and glory in the ring.
Born 397 AD in Sirmium, Exene was a war child who spent her youth on the battlefield where she met her husband Alaviv. Together they sacked and pillaged Africa with Genseric’s army until the king, feeling his rule threatened, exiled her through an interdimensional portal to the 20th century.
Born 2112 AD in Neo-Galway, Lorc is a prominent spaceshipping magnate whose daughter was kidnapped by time traffickers and enslaved in the interdimensional metaverse. Now, Lorc spends countless hours plugged into the immersive darknet, financing a brigade of mercenary hackers and cyber investigators while forging a criminal empire of his own; all for the purpose of recovering his child and annihilating those responsible for the abduction.
Born 2001 AD in Transylvania, Morty lives in an ancient castle and spends all his time immersed in the metaverse, not knowing there is a working interdimensional time portal in an oubliette between the walls.
Born in 123 BC in Tarsus, Rox was a Cilician pirate who had captured and sold Julius Caesar for ransom. As revenge, Caesar returned to condemn Rox to an eternal life of fighting in the most brutal gladiator pits through time and space.
Born 200 BC in Xanthos, Matilda was chief librarian of the legendary Library of Lycia until cyborg and alien invaders annexed her homeland during the heyday of the Roman Republic. To escape enslavement, she conjured an interdimensional portal from ancient Sumerian texts, leaving to establish a rare used book store in 1980s AD Manhattan.
Born in 496 AD in Cuenca in a dimension where the Roman Empire had conquered America, not much else is known about Killa other than they are a bloodthirsty, undefeated gladiator known as the Cyberdemon who hops dimensions to challenge new foes across space and time.
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© 2023 RomanPunks NFT
romanpunks@protonmail.ch
Registered in Ontario, Canada
